My friend dies because of war, but who protects him?

Cancer, war his legacy

Our closer than family friend of 60 years passed away recently, another death brought on by cancer. His lymphoma cancer was the legacy of his time in Vietnam and his exposure to agent orange. Some say that our brave veterans may leave the war, but the war doesn’t always leave them.

The two major wars of my boomer generation have something in common as both Vietnam and the Iraqi invasion were escalated and or started with either historically incredible incompetence at best, outright lies at the worst or most likely a combination of both.

Our country asked our bravest and best men and women to leave their homes and families and risk their lives to serve our country, something that many of us couldn’t or wouldn’t do.

In the end, while our warrior brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers fought to protect us and protect each other, it seems that the true intent of many in our government and power interests was to protect their positions and never appear to “lose,” even if it meant that many more lives were lost.

My friend served in the jungles of Vietnam from 1968 through 1970. President Nixon, as disclosed from recent Freedom of Information releases, conspired with Vietnam President Thieu to sabotage the 1968 Peace talks for advantage in the 1968 election, causing the war to prolong another four years. Do you know anyone who died in Viet Nam after 1968? Chances are many of us do. My friend is one story, there are millions of others.

The victorious get to write the history, only the truth and those willing to publish the truth can shine a light on this darkness. This is not a look back in anger but a call to look at now and be vigilant and watchful of the future.

Jeff Good, Fort Myers

Distracting driving by students

In Florida, there is a bill to allow police officers to pull over and ticket those who are texting and driving. This is a bill that should be pass now.

I work at a Target in Fort Myers. We have Florida Gulf Coast University right across the street, meaning we get many students driving around. Walking out the store is life threatening as you have students driving past stop signs going 40 mph; you clearly see them on their phones.

I once was parked in FGCU campus and this student on the phone started to back up to me I honked at her, but she still backed up and hit my car. It wasn't a life threatening hit, but what if it was a person she would of hit?

This bill should clearly be passed, as there are too many accidents happening and many will continue too if this drivers keep being distracted by their smartphones.

Raiwil Castillo, FGCU student

Need for anti-texting law

Re: Anti-texting and driving bills in Florida House and Senate find favor with Fort Myers drivers.

It is known that being distracted while driving opens doors to horrendous accidents and puts not only the driver’s but many people’s lives in danger. Our cell phones are an inevitable distraction, and it has come to the point where the only way people will be convinced to reduce their usage of them while driving is to pass a law which allows police to ticket drivers who display this action here in Florida.

According to the DMV website, the Wireless Communications Device Law that was passed in California prohibits any driver from using a handheld device to write, send or read text messages. A law such as this one being passed in the state of Florida is an important step to make people come to the realization of how severe of an issue distracted driving is.

Betul Guner, Lehigh Acres

Secrecy of investigations

We have for some time been inching toward government by secrecy. The people are increasingly presumed to have no right to know what goes on behind the closed doors in Washington, which apparently applies to all the doors in Washington.

For some time, we have been told that there is an explosive memorandum floating around behind all these closed doors which no ordinary American is allowed to see because it's "eyes only" for our elite superiors. Disclosure would constitute a "security threat," we are told, though no one tells us why this would be so.

Robert "Bob" super sleuth Mueller continues with his wonderful "investigation" into who-knows-what? Heaven forbid Americans be told what is going on with the bloated staff he has been provided with thanks to people's money. We are shut out, or more accurately locked out, of anything the windbags in Washington would rather not have us know.

Try to get your hands on anything which is "classified" in Washington, which is just about everything. Try to get anything under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and you will probably, at best, receive a "redacted" version with nothing left of an original document but blacked-out lines and meaningless gibberish.